Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
From left to right: Debbie Lagaret, Alysha Darby and Adrienne Braxton.
By Alysha Darby
I met a woman named “Debbie” at the Walmart in Redlands. She was the woman who checks the receipt as you’re walking out the door. I was struggling to get my receipt out of my wallet because I had a big box in my hand. Anyways, she was saying sorry that she had to do this it was a part of her job, I said, “Oh no worries.”
She said, “Yeah, I have stage III cancer but I still got to get up and come do my job because I need it, and I’m going to beat cancer. I’m a survivor.” Then she told me she wanted to get extensions like me and braids when her hair grows back! Then she told me she loved me and said, “Come see me again sister.”
After I spoke with one of Debbie’s daughters, she revealed to me that Debbie had been a district manager at Walmart for 23 years and that after being out of work for only four months (for radiation and Chemotherapy treatment) Walmart moved her down to a door greeter and cut her pay by $4 an hour! Debbie now has to work every single day while in pain, then goes home to take care of her own sick mother. Talk about a soldier! Debbie’s daughter explained to me that finances are a problem due to all Debbie’s expensive hospital bills.
Last week, me and my boyfriend Mo Ziah met up with Adrienne Braxton and Sonia Adams from Celebrating a Vision Foundation. We put together a gift basket for Ms. Debbie which included chocolate covered strawberries, a prayer blanket, gift cards, candles, a survivor t-shirt and a lot of chocolate covered goodies.
God is really working through me because I have never had so much passion to help someone that I didn’t even know! This is only the beginning.
I believe raising this money could honestly change Debbie’s life and at least allow her to battle this cancer head up without having financial problems as well. She deserves that chance! Please anything can help, thank you all. You can visit https://www.gofundme.com/debbie-lagaret-cancer-fighter to donate.
